Public History Comes of Age in Brockport For years, the Department of History has informally trained public historians, producing graduates that include the City of Rochester and the Monroe County historians. Over the last two years, we have established an undergraduate interdisciplinary minor in museum studies and public history and a Master of Arts track in public history.

From Prof. Joe Torre securing national grants to link historical scholarship on Rochester’s role in 19th-century reform movements to public awareness, to Emily Henrich ’15 examining the Brockport archives, to Stephanie Mathieu ’14’s internship with the Rochester City Historian’s Office, Brockport professors and students alike have studied and promoted the past for the general public as a part of our new academic tracks.

(Prof. Joe Torre guides students through Mount Hope Cemetery, as part of the “Rochester Reform Trail” class)

The College at Brockport, SUNY

NUMBER 27 Fall 2014

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On the ‘Rochester Reform Trail’ with Dr. Torre Garrett W. Roe ’13

Prof. Jose Torre had a busy year juggling teaching Early American history courses at Brockport, researching Ameri-can antebellum reform, and gearing up for his summer National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) workshop for edu-cators. Prof. Torre’s historical focus is dedicated to the study and promotion of the history of the men and women who made Rochester a center for reform culture in antebellum America.

Throughout the early 1800s, the area between Utica and Buffalo (dubbed the “Burned-Over-District” by Whitney

Cross) was the epicenter for economic, political, religious, and social upheaval encompassing leading national figures such as Susan B. Anthony, Frederick Douglass, and Charles Finney. The Woman’s Rights Movement, industrialization, abolition, the Anti-Masonic Movement, temperance, sabbatarianism, and the emergence of various religious sects from the Second Great Awakening were rooted in the fertile Yankee dominated Central and Western New York. Historians Whitney Cross, Paul Johnson, Nancy Hewitt, and Milton Sernett have studied the people and the historical forces at play in the region; their works were key to constructing Dr. Torre’s historical framework. Through directing the NEH teacher workshop and the Brockport class, Prof. Torre has utilized their scholarship to promote the rich regional and national history found in the greater Rochester area through his ‘Rochester Reform Trail.’

Prof. Torre examines why such varied ideas and reform efforts converged almost simultaneously within this region.

Prof. Torre teamed up with Richard Newman, Professor of History at the Rochester Institute of Technology, to create the NEH workshops. In summer 2011, Professors Torre and Newman hosted the first teacher workshops after successfully navigating the competitive NEH grant review process.

Hosted at The College at Brockport this past summer, the Rochester Reform Trail is an NEH Landmarks of American

History and Culture Workshop for School Teachers. In July and August, Director Torre hosted 80 teachers from more than 30 states, representing public and private institutions and a variety of grade levels to teach the history of antebellum reform in this region through landmark field trips, scholarly presentations, and seminar-style discussions. Local historical landmarks such as the Broad Street Aqueduct; the Erie Canal; the Susan B. Anthony House; the University of Rochester’s Rare Books, Special Collections and Preservation library; the Seneca Falls Women’s Rights National Historical Park; and Mount Hope Cemetery were accompanied by presentations by scholarly experts which included our own Prof. Alison Parker. Director Torre provided teachers an experience to examine the complex reform history through landmarks and written documents.

This past spring, Professor Torre adapted his NEH workshop formula to a public history course for Brockport

undergraduate and graduate students. The “Rochester Reform Trail” class focused on how time, place, and landmarks af-fected the development of reform organizations. Visiting the High Falls Historic District, the Susan B. Anthony House, and Mount Hope Cemetery allowed students to experience historical analysis beyond the classroom. Aside from learning history, students added to the existing research by creating a visual-based interactive public history project promoting Rochester’s rich history. Students collaborated on a final project using Prezi© presentation software that collectively pieced together the various landmarks, people, events, and historical narratives to create a ‘Rochester Reform Trail.’ This Prezi will be pub-lished on the Brockport Digital Commons (online collection of scholarly and creative works produced by the faculty, staff, and students of The College at Brockport) alongside other publications by the Department of History. A second goal for the public history project is for the Rochester City Historian’s office, under the direction of Brockport alumna Christine L. Ridarsky, MA ’03, by providing historical content for their efforts in creating Rochester Heritage Trails via an online app-driven system.

Dr. Torre’s work in the study of and the promotion of the Rochester reform efforts has provided a scholarly ap-

proach to the public history of the antebellum reform efforts. Recently, Professor Torre obtained another grant to continue the teacher workshops. This upcoming year, he plans to increase the interactive capabilities of the Trail’s website including the number of media sources, collections of published works, and works completed by participants. He also will be teaching a research methods course focused around Rochester reform.

To learn more, visit the Rochester Reform Trail website at www.brockport.edu/rocreformtrail.

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Internships are a fundamental ingredient in both public history programs. Two students, Stephanie Mathieu and Emily Henrich, describe their experiences.

Interdisciplinary Minor in Museum Studies and Public History To learn about this popular new offering, go to: www.brockport.edu/history/museum_studies

Master of Arts in History – Public History Track To see the new graduate offering, go to: www.brockport.edu/history/grad/requirements

On the Trail of Blake McKelvey And Learning about Material Culture

Stephanie Mathieu ’14

NOTE: The Rochester City Historian’s Office, headed by Christine Ridarsky, MA ’03, and the Rochester Historical Society, with the assistance of Dan Cody, BS ’07, MA ’10,

have provided valuable experiences for a number of history students aside from the author.

In my junior year, I started my first internship with the Rochester Historical Society. I primarily worked with the RHS collection, which is largely made up of artworks and antique clothing. The collection consisted of many boxes that needed processing, which included finding donor information and accession paperwork, photographing, and cataloguing the information into the PastPerfect database. On some of the more interesting pieces, I was fortunate to research whom it may have belonged to and what time period it was from. Aside from the clothing collection, I was able to design the layout and artifacts for the display cases. My internship provided me an inside look into the financial and fundraising issues that persist with non-profit organizations.

After completing my RHS internship, I moved down the hall to the City Historian’s Office. There I was assigned

to organize, process, and create a detailed finding aid for the Blake McKelvey Research Notes archival collection. From 1936-1975, City Historian Blake McKelvey wrote a four-volume history on Rochester. The volumes he wrote had very limited citations or, as was the case in a couple of volumes, no citations at all. McKelvey kept extensive, organized research notes, although these notes were never organized in a way that would enable other researchers to use them easily. I completed a detailed processing plan detailing the state of the collection and how it was to be reorganized. The collection was then rehoused and preserved with archival quality materials. Once that was completed, I created a detailed finding aid based on current archival standards. At the completion of the McKelvey project, I was fortunate to be hired as an archival processing clerk to assist with a Local Government Records Management Improvement Fund Grant. Currently, I am working with a lead archival processor and one other archival processing clerk to process the correspondence of the former City Historians, with documents dating back to the inception of the City Historian’s Office in 1926.

I have gained valuable experience interning at both the Rochester Historical Society and the City Historian’s Office.

I have gained practical experience on the archival processes and have gained the knowledge of the standards for describing and arranging collections, material culture, cataloging, preservation, and storage of artifacts. I have also learned how important networking is in finding your career. My affiliation with both organizations has allowed me to meet and build a rapport with many individuals in the museum, archival, and library science fields. As well as a valuable network of professionals, my internships also helped me figure out what I want to do with my history degree. In September, I will begin the Library Science program in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Buffalo.

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Examining the Beginning Years of the Stylus in The Rose Archives

Emily Henrich ’15

Over the 2013–14 academic year, I studied the history of The Stylus, The College at Brockport’s newspaper, for my internship using resources in the Rose Archives. 2014 marks the centennial of the creation of The Stylus. My work, which started by simply going through and scanning the staff throughout the years, ended by helping write a part of The Stylus’s history! I already knew the basics of the school’s paper from working with Charlie Cowling, the archivist at the Rose Archives, and over time the small bits slowly came together to form an even bigger picture. Using primary and secondary sources, I gradually began to understand the extensive history not only of the school newspaper, but also of the Brockport Normal School (BNS) and the later College. Before the newspaper took a foothold as the paper Brockport students currently know, a small paper consisting of four pages began production in the year 1900. The newspaper, The Normalia, received its name from the Brockport Normal School (“Normal” meaning an institute of higher education—one that held quality and quantity hand-in-hand). The Normalia lasted for eight years. In 1908, it came to an abrupt stop. The last edition of The Normalia (July 1908) thanked its trusty followers and donors, but hinted that an end to the paper might be imminent. The faculty minutes of BNS dated September 21, 1908, record a motion passed that stated The Normalia would be suspended until further notice. Although no exact reason was discovered in the archives, W. Wayne Dedman, author of Cherishing Heritage: The Centennial History of the State University College at Brockport, NY and former Professor of History at Brockport, suggests that the sudden end of the school newspaper could have been the result of conflicts among social groups at the school (Arethusa, Gamma Sigma, Alpha Delta, etc.), suggesting they had differing thoughts in regard to the topics and stories written in The Normalia. With a push from the faculty and student body, the BNS board reinstated the school newspaper and agreed that it provided an important aspect of school life at the time. With a little bit of inspiration and a contest to decide the name of the new student paper, the next newspaper was created. The Stylus was chosen out of all other names; Mrs. Briggs, a history teacher at BNS, won the contest with the most creative name. The Stylus is still in print today, but from its inception until 1928, the paper consisted of a plethora of stories, a few tid-bits of information and humor, and sports scores here and there. Ultimately, I will document the newspaper’s history between 1900 and 1928, for Charlie Cowling and future interested seekers, when it transformed from an article-based paper into a hard-hitting news reporting paper. My argument is that The Great War influenced many BNS students to write articles about individuals at war in their school, but also about individuals who were outside of their community. With the stories coming from the war, they hoped to turn the paper from a story-based paper into something with articles and information. They ultimately achieved this goal in 1928 with the creation of a four-page newspaper. Using primary sources to write an intelligent piece of work that conveys a message to the public is more difficult than I expected. That being said, the sources help to tell the story so much better than secondary sources can. Reading somebody’s thoughts from the time period and transferring it to paper yourself is so much more thrilling. Due to my efforts at piecing together articles, board notes, town papers, and individual journals, I was able to tell a story that may have been lost or forgotten. My work in the Rose Archives made me enthusiastic about public history. There is a difference between reading about the past from an outside perspective and reading it from someone who experienced it firsthand. This experience truly gave me great insight into The College at Brockport’s past, but it also taught me to appreciate the past, and to approach it with a respectful eye.

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History Forum Highlights, 2013–14 President Megan Crowe ’14

The 2013–14 History Forum enjoyed another productive year with numerous events both on and off campus. Kicking off the fall semester with the help of Prof. Katherine Clark, we organized a welcome-back for students in the Alum-ni House, giving students a chance to mingle with fellow undergraduates, graduates, and the history professors. This event greatly increased our membership!

We hosted four trips from Rochester to Buffalo and places in between. Our first trip was to the ‘haunted’ Fort Ni-agara around Halloween time. The spooky tour of the grounds and cemetery was a perfect mix of fun and history. Brock-port alumna Diane Palmer ’06 assisted the Forum’s visit to the Daughters of the American Revolution house in Albion, NY. We learned about the organization, the history of the Albion chapter, and knowledge on public history. Late in the fall, the Forum journeyed to see the newly released 12 Years A Slave which depicted the life of Solomon Northrup from Saratoga Springs, New York. Our last field trip took us to the enjoyable and engaging Strong National Museum of Play. This high-light attracted both history and non-history students who enjoyed the historical aspects of leisure such as the doll museum and the comic book exhibit and the enjoyable interactive exhibits including Wegmans and Sesame Street.

Success followed us aside from our field trips in the events we hosted on campus. We hosted a game night and two successful movie nights featuring Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln and the classic Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Thanks to the generous donations of the history faculty, we hosted a book sale fundraiser. The biennial Alumni Panel was our crowning achievement of the year. The Alumni Panel, featuring Melinda Cater Wallington ’07, Paige Doerner ’13, Mike Eisenstein ’12, and Diane Palmer ’06, provided valuable and encouraging information to the history majors in the room. Collectively the four panelists represented public history, marketing and media production, higher education, public museums, and librarian services. The topics ranged from general applicability of a history degree to the specifics of each panelist’s post-graduate success. The Presidential Dining Room was full of history majors who provided many discussion questions. One student’s comment that the panel was “inspiring” echoed the good feelings in the room.

Finally, as president, I was glad to have the opportunity to make a difference for students who took advantage of our engaging and educational activities. Moreover, I am glad that non-history students participated, taking away the value and importance of history. The excellent officer team (Vice President Alex Brien, Treasurer Katie Krantz, Secretary Conner Wolfe, and Coordinators for Public Relations Amber Wodraska and Julia Bibko) provided the manpower, passion, and zeal making this an awesome year!

Thank you Forum members, students, alumni, and history professors for an amazing year!

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(Left to Right: Megan Crowe ’14 (standing), Melinda Cater Wallington ’07, Paige Doerner ’13, Mike Eisenstein ’12, Diane Palmer ’06 at the biennial History Forum Alumni Panel)

The National Conference on Undergraduate Research

Shellie Clark ’14 I was fortunate to attend the 28th National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) at the

University of Kentucky in Lexington. Having never presented a paper or attended a research conference before, I was excited to see the incredible array of scholarship that had been amassed by the 4,000 participants in this year’s conference. From oral presentations to massive poster sessions, so many fascinating topics were presented that it was difficult to choose which to attend, although our Brockport group attended one another’s sessions whenever possible. The conference also hosted a graduate school fair attended by over 120 graduate and professional schools, four outstanding plenary speakers, and excursions which celebrated themes near and dear to Kentuckians: Bourbon and horses. While the weather was not perfect, the people we encountered at NCUR, whether faculty, staff, students, or local citizens, could not have been kinder or more hospitable. Another pleasant aspect of the trip was traveling with students and professors from other disciplines within Brockport. I am always amazed by the variety of talent and skill I am surrounded by on campus, and the 10-hour bus ride to Lexington allowed me to get to know and appreciate 23 students and two professors I would likely never have met otherwise. Their humor, kindness, and inclusiveness made the experience a great deal of fun in addition to being an amazing learning and growth opportunity. Dr. Markus Hoffmann and Dr. Carly Reed provided an incredible amount of time and work to ensure everything went smoothly, and we all owe them our thanks. I am happy to report that my presentation went smoothly, my audience seemed interested in my topic, and I was able to answer the questions they had afterward. (Phew!) Now that I’ve had this experience, I look forward to presenting again in the future, without the anxiety that can accompany the unknown. I would encourage any student to pursue opportunities like this. Brockport offers many forms of support, from travel and research expenses to help with preparation and practice, and the entire experience is priceless.

(Shellie is on the far right with fellow Brockport participants)

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History students’ participation in Scholars Day included, in addition to traditional papers, poster presentations of the final projects by the first three graduates in the MA track in public history:

SCHOLARS DAY 2014

David Pomplas explains his poster session on the flu pandemic of 1918 in rural NYS.

Fabrice Louis-Broyld demonstrates to Prof. Kim Schutte the application of modern ‘apps’ to Tudor-Stuart England.

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On behalf of the Friends of Drake Library, Director of Library Services Mary Jo Orzech congratulates Prof. Killigrew on the dedication of the room where he continues his scholarship on ancient China.

Richard Deverell explains the deeper meaning of the Captain America comics.

The Dr. John W. Killigrew Room in Drake Library

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Alumni News Dan Karin MA ’75

As an undergraduate during the early ’70s, I considered myself to be a history major. Because of the excellent graduate school faculty at Brock-port, I began to view myself as an histori-an. Twelve years later, with some rigorous men-toring from Prof. Richard Ellis, I received a PhD from the University of Buffalo. For more than the next 20 years, I was an adjunct instructor at Brock-port, teaching sections of History 211 and 212.

In a very similar process, my “day job” be-came a valued career. I was hired by the City of Rochester in 1989 to do some research, writing, and media work. It became apparent that many of my co-workers were good, smart people trying to do their best for the community. I came to enjoy being a part of that effort, was appointed City Clerk in 2006, and retired from that position at the end of 2013.

After more than 25 years of two rewarding experiences, I am currently enjoying having time on my hands, making some travel plans, reading a growing stack of American History books, and doing some volunteer work.

Leigh-Anne Francis MA ’02

I recently received my PhD at Rutgers University and am back in the SUNY system as an assistant professor with a dual appointment in the Departments of History and Africana and Latino Studies at SUNY Oneonta. My disserta-tion, “Burning Down the Cage: African American Women’s Prison Communities in Auburn, New York, 1893-1933,” analyzes the intersections of gender, race and class by exploring crime and punishment, labor and community, through the lens of black women’s experiences while offering comparisons with imprisoned native-born and European immigrant White women.

In 2010–11, I held a Five Colleges Fellowship in African American and African Studies at Mount Holyoke College. As a PhD candidate, I was a volunteer instructor at Mountainview Youth Correctional Facility for Men in New Jer-sey. The incarcerated and formerly incarcerated young people with whom I worked taught me many things, including how valuable and unex-amined the privilege of freedom is in my life; for this gift, I am deeply grateful. When not teaching or researching, I enjoy spending time with my partner, Jenny, and our cats, Anarchy and Bless-ing.

Mark Sample ’98, MA ’99 Just a short note from a long-ago student

from the ’90s. I am a full-time tenured Professor of History at MCC. I have been here over 10 years now.

Life is good for me: married 21 years, 3 kids, and a job I love.

I still love history, too! Even though teach-ing full time, I read constantly. I am currently reading Robert Caro’s third installment of his massive LBJ bio, The Passage of Power.

Tom Downs ’98, MA ’00

I retired from teaching at Webster Thomas High School in 2010 and have been teaching at SUNY Oswego since. I have had the opportunity to learn of the great similarity between Oswego and Brockport. Oswego, like Brockport, has an older history written that reminds me of the 1968 book authored by Wayne Dedman. However, Oswego has not had a modern update such as the work that Profs. O’Brien and Leslie authored a few years ago.

Scott Flieger ’77, MA ’78 A Managing Director at Deutsche Bank in New York City and the Vice Chair of the Brockport Foundation Board of Directors, Scott provided career advice to selected undergraduates at a dinner at the Irelands’ house. He believes that more Brockport history majors should join him on Wall Street.

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More Alumni News

Alexander Walther ’12 I decided not to do an MBA a while ago, and the realization that I enjoyed more working with the people than mucking around the business side of it eventually led me to joining the Peace Corps.

The plan is to teach abroad for 1-2 years in China and then avail myself of Peace Corps fellowships for graduate school. Leaning towards international relations and diplomacy/development. Kind of a wide field, so I am hoping more international work will give me more confidence to choose a focus within this field, make me a stronger candidate for said program, and have fun. That is the current plan; we shall see how much it changes!

Aislinn Ladd ’12 I completed my MA in Medieval History from Birkbeck, University of London, and am currently a Business Development Manager for Heritage and Tourism at Allsorted, a book distributor/publisher based in London, UK. I travel the UK, visiting museums and tourist destinations making sure their needs are met within their gift shop, with appropriate books. Some of my customers include Westminster Abbey, Household Cavalry Museum, Hever Castle, and Woburn Safari Park.

While studying at Brockport, I completed a study abroad at the University of Roehampton in London, which inspired me to return for my MA. Living in London has given me the opportunity to travel all over Europe as well as see the 2012 Olympics, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, and many fantastic concerts and events that London has to offer.

Nick Lind ’13 finished his Master's in Educational Policy in the Warner School of Education at the University of Rochester. In April 2014, he married his high school sweetheart, Elissa Mesler ’13, who also graduated from Brockport.

Undergraduate Awards

Kleehammer Departmental Scholar Elizabeth Bailey

The Jack Crandall Award Edward Suriano

The Robert Griswold Award Michael Zagori

The Arthur Lee Award Matthew Rockefeller

The Kempes Schnell Award Kaitlin Schrimmel

Terry Gore Military History Prize Alan Schlageter

Melinda Kleehammer Senior Seminar Prize 1st Prize Caitlin Johnson 2nd Prize Alex Indovina

The George S. Queen Awards Undergraduate Essay Martin Norment  

Graduate Essay Shellie Clark

- - - - - - - - - - Master of Arts Awards

Wayne Dedman Graduate Award Robert Bermudes

Flieger Family Graduate Fellowship Fall 2013 Ricky Tomczak Spring 2014 Alex Kulp   

Graduate Teaching Assistantships

2013–14 Garrett Roe

Fall 2013 Garrett Jordan & David Pomplas

Spring 2014 Shellie Clark & Erin Shea

The History Department

Awards 2013–14

Brendan Penders ’13 is following his love of

brewing by managing the very successful new Irish pub and restaurant, McColley’s, in Spencerport. He urges Brockport alumni to drop in.

(Cut Here) _________________________________________________________________________________________

Department of History The College at Brockport

State University of New York 350 New Campus Drive

Brockport, New York 14420-2956

The New Masters of History

Prof. Morag Martin, Director of the Master of Arts in History program, announces the graduation of 12 newly minted MAs in History:

Sean Alonzo Stephanie Kula Richard Deverell Stephen Lang Julia Dowd Fabrice Louis-Broyld James Johnston David Pomplas Garrett Jordan Lee Seitman Jill Neidlinger Keys Richard Tomczak

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Phi Alpha Theta

The College at Brockport’s Alpha Gamma Lambda chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, the national history honor society, inducted 12 new members at our annual honors and awards ceremony at the Morgan

Manning House on April 25, 2014:

Elizabeth Bailey Stephanie Kula Andrew Capuano Michael McCarthy Alex Indovina Matthew Rockefeller Susanna Johnson Kaitlin Schrimmel Garrett Jordan Erin Shea Sean Kipybida Michael Zagori

Attention, history alumni! We want to hear from you! Email your news to Teri Rombaut at trombaut@brockport.edu. Or you can clip and mail this form to the ad-dress on the back. Check us out on the Web on Facebook and at www.brockport.edu/history. Many thanks!

Name: __________________________________________________________________________________

Address: ________________________________________________________________________________ Date of Graduation: ___________Degree: _______ Current Position: __________________________________________________________________________ News that you’d like to share (career, hobbies, thoughts on history, travel, family, etc.) _________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

350 New Campus Drive Brockport, NY 14420-2956 Department of History